Reviews Off Broadway / Whats On Off Broadway

Friday, October 19, 2018

Three actors, at the top of their game, are inhabiting Studio
54 and tearing into our assumptions about truth. It’s easy in the abstract to draw
a line underneath truth, but it is less easy in reality. In Lifespan of a Fact trying
to draw that line is complicated and hilarious.

Bobby Cannavale plays John D’Argata, an essayist / journalist
who has written a moving essay on a young man’s suicide. Cherry Jones is the publisher
who wants to publish this great piece, but runs a quick fact check first to
cover her bases.

Daniel Radcliffe plays
young Jim Fingal, whom Ms. Jones has authorized to do a fact check of the
article. The play is based on a book by the real Misters Fingal and D’Argata, which
covers the same ground. With nothing else to go on, you might conclude this would be a
dry and esoteric piece. It is not. It is quick moving, witty, very funny and
surprisingly relevant in our times.

The essay in question looks at the impact of
this suicide on the community. It tries to capture the world at this moment in time. To do so
to the greatest affect, the writer has taken some literary licenses. Mr. D'Argata not only doesn't disagree, he defends the actions.

Fact-checking
Mr. Fingal has been diligent to the point of absurdity. He has a 130 page
spreadsheet of questions for a 13 page article. Sure, many of these are
nit-picky, but a few are key exaggerations of the truth, which gives the article
a deeper meaning, but does so by stretching the truth.

Both of the men get extremely defensive about their work.
Mr. D’Argata is defensive of changing the work to alter the flow and underlying
emotional impact. Mr. Fingal is adamant that if they don't correct some details, the
reader won’t ever get to the feeling of the piece. When Daniel Radcliff drops
by Bobby Cannavale’s house to have an impromptu discussion, tempers rise quickly. Cherry
Jones strides into this rather testosterone-fueled flare up, to calm things
down and try to get an essay that everyone can agree with.

Even though these are 3 famous actors, you forget who they
are pretty quickly as their characters take over. Jim Fingal and John D’Argata
both admire and despise each other. Cherry Jones comes in as a publisher who
cares about selling magazines for the right reason, to move and inform the reader. Her support, like the audience's swings between the two men.

The Lifespan of a Fact clocks in at a brisk 90 minutes,
which echoes the deadline in the play. Leigh Silverman keeps the momentum
moving and the stakes amped up. Lifespan of a Fact is an intimate show, and
Studio 54 wraps it in the right space.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Lillian Hellman’s play Days to Come was never going to be an
easy show, but I was surprised to find it the rare Mint Theater miss. It’s not
that it is bad, it just isn’t compelling, and its one possible chance is hamstrung by
timing.

Days to Come, written and premiered in 1936, meanders
between the story of a manufacturing strike hitting a tight knit Ohio town and
a secondary story about the factory’s owner’s wife.

The story of the strike revolves around the impact of the
strike on the factory owner, who loves this little town and its people. The factory
owner, Andrew Rodman (an underused Larry Bull), is a good man forced to hold
down wages which causes him great angst but it causes his co-owners, a business
friend and his sister, no angst what so ever. In fact, the co-owners force him
to hire “strikebreakers” and he is too naïve to know that this is just another
term for hired guns. The handsome young union organizer played Roderick Hill, is
under no such allusions. He tries to keep the striking workers from responding
to the threats and taunts of the strikebreakers. If they respond physically,
then the police (many of them newly deputized thugs) can arrest them and break
the strike. And while this is the main story, most of that action happens off
stage. The conflict is represented onstage by an old friend of the boss and the
new union organizer who show up to try to talk sense into the owner, versus a
stereotype of evil in the head thug (well played over the top by Dan Daily) and
the uncaring sister (Kim Martin-Cotton).

And then there is the story revolving around the wife. Julia
(Janie Brookshire) is barely a wife to the very passive Andrew – this is not
Mr. Bull’s fault, the story is written in a manner to suggest he has a great
weakness in character, manifest by the inability to inspire his wife. As in Ms.
Hellman’s play Little Foxes,
the female lead is headstrong and demanding. Here she is also an adulteress and
ungrateful, bringing downfall upon the men that she crosses paths with. But in
today’s age of #metoo, Ms. Brookshire plays her not as a narcissistic adult,
but as a sensitive, albeit emotionally adolescent girlish-woman trying to come
to grips with her feelings. I longed for a bit of 1930s Bette Davis or Joan
Crawford to crawl out and let loose that she enjoyed her life, but no such
luck. Her contemporary motivation was in stark contrast to the 1930’s attitude
of all the other players. She dumps her husband’s business partner early in the
show, but it isn’t more than a few moments before the brash handsome union
organizer shows up. What will happen?

Roderick Hill, Janie Brookshire

Days to Come wraps up this show with an attack on the striking
workers, the end of the strike, the end of Mr. Bull’s hopes for a unified town,
the end of at least one affair and one marriage and the ambivalence of Julia
towards all of it. I was disappointed because I really do love the Mint and
look forward to everything they present. This was a rare failure, despite some
exceptional acting by Misters Bull, Hill and Daily.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

A good recipe can make a fine dish, be it food or musical theater.
Just the right amount of Act I intrigue with lyrical exposition and Act II redemption
with swooning love songs, built on a recycled movie can brew up a sweet and
charming (if expected) story. But, like a great cook, Head Over Heels throws
out the recipe book and tosses all kinds of unexpected odds and ends into the
pot. Sixteenth century pastoral story, check. Music by a 1980s new-wave girls
band, check. Modern update to a sex comedy, done. And out of this eclectic grab
bag, Heads Over Hells tears off the stage to grab your interest and rarely let it
go.

Taylor Iman Jones opens Head Over Hells with a snap and a bang

The word exuberant seems designed for this evening of
entertainment that will put a smile on your face; a smile that doesn’t leave
until hours after the curtain comes down. It is headed by a trio of young women
who discover their strength and their loves. The voice of these three will stun
you as they grow to take over the stage.

The story, for those of us not up to date on 16th
century pastoral romances, is thus. The King of Arcadia faces a prophecy from
the Oracle of Delphi that he will lose his kingdom after 4 conditions come to
pass. Two concerning his daughters and two concerning him. To avoid this fate,
he takes the entire court on a fanciful march into the woods on a flimsy lie.
The King and Queen (Broadway veterans Jeremy Kushner and Rachel York) set out bickering
in word and tune.

They are joined by their daughters Pamela (Bonnie Mulligan)
and Philoclea (Alexandra Socha), the subject of two of the prophecies. Pamela has rejected all suitors to date and
depends on her servant Mopsa (Taylor Iman Jones) for company. Philoclea,
alternatively, has had her love, lowly shepherd Musidorus (Andrew Durand)
rejected by her father. These three women, Bonnie Mulligan, Alexandra Socha and
Taylor Iman Jones give Head Over Heels its fantastic voice. They can sing
sweetly or belt out the songs of the Go-gos with heart, edge and flair. They can
sound like the young lady rockers when they want to and yet can interpret songs
in a way you never heard, so that words tell a fresh story. These three are what
kicks Head Over Heels into overdrive.

Andrew Durand carries much of the comic weight (with an
amazing assist from Bonnie Mulligan) as Musidorus who will go to any lengths for his beloved. The Oracle is played,
well over the top, by Peppermint, an actor who honed their skill’s on Ru Paul’s
Drag Race.

Bonnie Mulligan rips it up as Pamela

It is pure old style hokum rendered new by the talented
cast, including a chorus of sexual mischievous dancers and actors. Spencer Liff
provides quite a modern twist for the choreography. Arcadia is rendering in
cartoon glory by Julian Crouch’s scenic design and Kevin Adams’ lighting. Tom
Kitt has rearraigned some of the Go-go’s tunes and kept others which sound as
fresh as you remember. This mélange of ingredients has been masterfully
directed by Michael Mayer, making the show glide along quickly.

Had I not seen the audience, I would wonder who this show
appeals to. I know that fans from the 1980’s would embrace the music, and LGBT
fans would embrace the heart of this show (and the dynamic turn of Peppermint).
But everyone in the theatre loved this show and had a great time, from the
young girls and out of towners who weren’t sure what to expect to the locals
who might be a bit apprehensive of another jukebox show. Head Over Hells
delighted us all.

Friday, July 20, 2018

The Originalist
has a lot to say about the Constitution, the Supreme Court and our country’s
inability to discuss politics and find a middle ground. In this, it is more
relevant now that it was when written in 2015. It is also a bit harder to watch
now than in 2015.

Edward Gero inhabits the role of Judge Antonin Scalia, and
brings him to life with vitality, humor and panache. Scalia loudly believes in
ruling from the court on the original intent of the authors of the constitution,
not any interpretation. Mr. Gero sells Mr. Scalia’s ideals with forcefulness and
self-assurance and deals with liberals with contempt. Like the real Justice
Scalia, he invites a liberal into his den, but only one smart enough to engage
with him.

Tracy Ifeachor plays Cat, the liberal law clerk that becomes
sparring partner, sounding board and, ultimately, friend. Ms. Ifeachor does a
great job with the part, challenging the Justice enough to work with him, but
not enough to truly offend him. This is not the dramatic stretch it might seem;
Justice Scalia did often employ one liberal clerk on his team.

In the course of The
Originalist, Scalia and Cat banter back and forth, the conservative
judge and the liberal clerk. If they don’t always find a middle ground, and
they rarely do, at least they are honest enough to listen to each other and
understand their viewpoints. Throughout Cat’s year with the Judge, she proves
her intellectual value repeatedly.

But there is a problem with The Originalist, and it is that the world has changed in
ways that were unexpected. Justice Scalia was often on the wrong side of very
close decisions and the play gives him a voice, trying to explain to future
audiences what motivated this man and what made him tick. Yet less than one
year later Justice Scalia passed away. His replacement was appointed by
President Obama, whom Scalia hated, but that man was never confirmed or even
interviewed. Rather the seat was stolen and given to another believer in
original intent. Throw-away comments that would be funny if history proceeded
according to precedence, are now arrows at the heart of our system.

Edward Gero’s irascible Justice Scalia was endearing because
he was the last stand of an embittered, privileged group of angry white men.
Now that he isn’t the last stand, but perhaps at the forefront of the next few
decades, the show isn’t nearly as funny. In trying to find a middle ground, Scalia
mocks Cat as lacking the killer instinct which will doom liberals. She notes
back that history is on her side. It turns out Justice Scalia was right.

The cast here is fantastic, both Mr. Gero and Miss Ifeachor
are brilliant. Brett Mack, in a small role, was so perfectly loathsome I wanted
to smack him from his entrance in annoying preppy boots. Author John Strand
gives us a wonderful play that strives to make the point that we need to value
the opinion of the other side, and Director Molly Smith brings it to life on
stage. Unfortunately for the country, they are signing (Opera) to the choir.

For those audience members that might not have visited the
Roy Arias Stage before, the walk up to the second floor for Trainspotting Live
NYC is a bit of a surreal experience. The staircase winds up through a tall, nondescript
stairwell and drops you into a warehouse like interior, a bar behind you and
the greeter the only indications you’re in the right place. Grab a drink, and
line up to enter the (graffiti filled) black box theater to the flashes of
neon, the beat of 1990s dance music and the exuberant cast and you know you’re
in for something wildly different.

Trainspotting Live is an immersive experience not just
of light, music, and the occasional liquids but of joy, despair and elation. It
is based on the book, not the movie, so some scenes may seem out of sequence
or lacking altogether - if your only experience with Trainspotting is the 1996
movie of the same name. But in the moment, alive with intensity, it doesn’t really
matter.

Andrew Barrett as Renton in Trainspotting Live

Many of the set pieces are funny, gross and rude. The
audience is treated occasionally as a coconspirator, sometimes as an enemy and
sometimes simply as voyeurs. But the audience never feels forgotten or superfluous.

For those that have no connection to the book or movie, some
of the surprising moments can be jarring. Trainspotting Live is the story of Renton
and his group of friends, surviving in the heroin scene in Edinburgh in the 90s. Andrew Barrett
does an amazing job anchoring Renton inside this immersive funhouse of a show.
Renton is ring master, bedrock and sounding board for his friends: Tommy and
Sick Boy. Greg Esplin (Tommy) and Tariq Malik (Sick Boy) are, like Mr. Barrett,
excellent in holding our attention in the course of the evening. Mr. Esplin
is particularly effective as his good boy spirals off the rails after a bad
love affair.

The other cast members, Lauren Downie, Pia Hagen, Tom
Chandler and Oliver Sublet, pull duty as multiple characters, bringing the
story to vibrant life. Each and everyone of them have standout moments that bewitch, enthrall or jar the audience into attention. To watch Lauren Downie seamlessly switch from an uptight mum into a frightening date who is demanding to lose her anal virginity is quite an impressive sight (if a bit scary).

Andrew Barrett, Lauren Downie, Pia Hagen and Olivier Sublet

Renton’s journey is documented from party boy to heroin enthusiast
to detox, to the one sober member of his team, as his friends take paths that are
sometimes parallel and sometimes skew far away from Renton’s own.

There are some scenes that are designed (in the book and the show) to gross us out. In particular, the embarrassing
morning after a night of sex and the most disgusting toilet in Scotland scenes, will put some people off. But for the audience I was with, those scenes somehow
morphed into bonding moments that brought us along with the storytellers.

Trainspotting Live is crazy fun entertainment. I love the
immersiveness of a show like Sleep No More, but Trainspotting Live takes it up a few
notches as the actors acknowledge and revel in the audience, blithely taking us
on a youthful, embarrassing and exhilarating trip most of us have long since
outgrown.

Monday, June 25, 2018

The time of the
gay stereotype is thankfully over. Theater no longer has to show gays as a tragic
sideshow or sassy gay friend, now gays can be anything. Log Cabin chooses to show them as confused defenders of the
status quo against the trans community. Such is progress.

Log Cabin is set over 7 years of
rapid political and societal advancement in the gay and lesbian community –
from 2012 to 2017. And we view these changes through the well-meaning eyes of one
gay and one lesbian couple, who are longtime friends. Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Philip
James Brannon play Ezra and Chris, an interracial couple who seem pretty well
suited to each other. Pam and Jules, the lesbian couple, are played by Cindy
Cheung and Dolly Wells respectively. They seem easy and at ease with each
other, full of easy tender moments instead ravishing desire.

The play opens
with Ezra and Chris telling the women about Ezra’s father’s unacceptance of
them as a couple, which astonishes Ezra. This discussion is followed quickly by
Ezra’s uncomfortableness about the status of his oldest friend, then Helen, now
Henry. The juxtaposition is Spielbergian in it’s painful obviousness. Ezra also
gets to flail about uncomfortably as Pam and Jules discuss having a baby: you
see Chris wants a child and Ezra does not. Not only does Ezra not want a child, he does
not want to talk about it.

Time flies by and
soon the baby has arrived. Since he doesn’t speak, various characters get to
have imagined conversations with the child to explore their insecurities. Henry
(né Helen) also drops by for dinner. He brings Myna, a free spirit andlove interest, along. Henry and Myna are
played by Ian Harvie and Talene Monahon. What follows is why one should never
decide to have a long-postponed conversation with your transsexual ex-prom date
in front of strangers. Mitchell Ezra manages to offend everyone even as
he is admitting to his own insecurities.Jules disappears into the baby’s room, only to be joined later by Henry
who then flirts / berates Jules into masturbating in some bizarre self-misogynistic
way. Perhaps the underlying erotic tension of the moment only eluded me, but
the moment seemed forced and artificial.

After spending
the evening fighting, Ezra decides to accede to Chris’ desire to have a child, because
that is one of the top reasons to bring a new person into the world, to make up
after a fight. Then Ezra and Chris make this magic moment even sweeter by going
to Henry and asking him to go off testosterone in order to get pregnant and
partner with them in forming a family. Remember, when we last saw Henry - only
moments earlier - he was being an asshole to the boys and cheating with a
lesbian mom, but such are how happy homes are made. For a moment I wondered if Log Cabin was actually written by
a member of the moral majority to show how disgusting the homosexuals really
are, I am still not convinced it wasn’t.

When another
year has passed and we next we see the company, Henry is pregnant (looking
remarkably like the first pregnant man spread in Time a few years ago), Jules
and Pam don’t discuss that evening
and Ezra and Chris are broken up over an infidelity. In one of the few moments
that felt real to me, Cindy Cheung gives a heartfelt speech on the meaning of
relationships and forgiveness that almost made me forgive this show. Almost.

Log Cabin was written
with incredible wit and verve by Jordan Harrison, but I could have used some real
emotion. I don’t enjoy saying this, I though Mr. Harrison’s piece Marjorie
Prime was a fantastic show and was looking forward to Log Cabin. Pam MacKinnon does an excellent job of direction,
helping ground the piece as much as possible. Log Cabin is very good when it isn’t frustrating or overly
showy. But those moments don’t come often enough for me to recommend this.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

It takes a
moment for your mind to adjust to Idina Menzel in a non-musical, but only a
moment. She steps onto the Laura Pels’ stage and takes command, her character
demanding supportive noises from her father. Playing Jodi Issacs, a mother in her
mid-forties whose husband left her for a 24 year hottie, Idina blazes with
self-righteous pity and a small amount of anger that comes off more as serious
annoyance. Jodi is about to get a lot more annoyed.

Jodi has flown
in from LA to surprise her father on his 70th birthday and to bask
in a little parental comfort. Her father, Elliot (Jack Weatherall), doesn’t want
to celebrate his birthday, hates surprises and doesn’t do parental comfort
well. Elliot is gay fashion designer that sells sex and the clothes that support
it. It is impossible not to think of Calvin Klein, since the backstory of the
poor Hungarian Jew that makes good mimics Mr. Klein (although the home borough
of Bronx has been replaced by the trendier Brooklyn) and because Mr. Weatherall
projects exactly what one would expect Mr. Klein to be like.

Jack WEtherall, Will Brittain, Idina Menzel and Eli Gleb

Worse, for
Jodi, is that Elliot has a much younger boyfriend, Oklahoma boy Trey (Will
Brittain) chosen mainly for handsome looks. Trey is the same age as Jodi’s son
Benjamin (Eli Gleb). The fact her ex-husband and her father are now both
involved with sexy creatures in their 20s, means that Jodi’s escape to New York
is very little escape after all.

And this house
was never her home. It is a steel and grey showplace that, at first, doesn’t
really look like anyone’s home, but Elliot and Trey fit the place well. Jodi walks
right up to the point of demanding her father choose her or Trey, but pulls
back when the answer becomes obvious.

Skintight is
very funny, occasionally titillating and a lovely chance for every actor to
show off in a few great scenes. On the other hand, it rarely connects to the
audience. Everyone stays in their lane when I would have expected a little more
chaos.

Eli Gleb and Will Brittain

Will Brittain
has moments that stand out, because his character is often charged with being
more than an attractive cardboard cutout of a character. I would like to have
seen more chances taken with the excellent cast.

Playwright
Joshua Harman uses Skintight to ask if beauty is as critically important as our
society has made it. His answer is that – yes, it is. And the answer is
dispatched with very little irony. Director Daniel Aukin moves the pieces of
the play excellently, but I was left somehow wanting more.